The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to electrically powered vehicles and, more specifically, to systems and methods for use in charging an electrically powered vehicle.
Electrically powered vehicles, including electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, include electric motors powered by energy storage devices, such as batteries. An energy storage device is depleted of energy as the motor is operated, requiring the operator of the vehicle to recharge the energy storage device. As the number of electric vehicles in use increases, the amount of electric vehicles that are stolen may also increase.
At least some known vehicle charging devices are designed to charge the energy storage device when connected to the vehicle, without requiring authentication or authorization of the user. As such, known charging devices will deliver power to an electric vehicle regardless of whether the vehicle has been reported as stolen. At least some known charging devices may be unsuitable for use in a publicly accessible location, because these charging devices do not require authentication of vehicle ownership prior to delivering power. Moreover, other charging devices may require specialized equipment to identify and/or authenticate the user, imposing additional materials costs and the inconvenience of maintaining possession of the specialized equipment.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a system and method capable of authenticating ownership of the electric vehicle before delivering power to the electric vehicle.